The Nuggets will be riding into Chicago on a double-decker bus of bad lottery history when the ping-pong balls begin shuffling Tuesday night.

Denver, in the NBA draft lottery for the fifth consecutive year, is making its 16th appearance overall. The Nuggets have never moved up from their pre-lottery position in any of those appearances. That includes two instances (1991, 1998) in which Denver entered the lottery with the best odds to receive the No. 1 pick only to fall back at least two spots each time when the balls were drawn. The Nuggets actually have moved down in the lottery in eight of their previous 15 appearances.

As if that wasn’t enough to hammer away any hope, Denver enters the lottery in a position, No. 14, that has never had any luck in the lottery. Since the lottery expanded to 14 teams in 2005, the team that entered the drawing in that position has stayed in it every single time. The 13th pre-lottery spot once yielded the No. 3 pick (Charlotte,...